Packing barrel, keg, or tierce.



UNITE SrATns P TENT Genres,

GEORGE F. MOKEEVER, OF ALLEGHENY, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OFrTWO- THIRDSTO FREDERICK BARKER AND JAMES MOKEEVER, JR., OF PITTS- BURG,PENNSYLVANIA-.

PACKING BARREL, KEG,'OR TIERCE.

$PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 655,103, dated July 31,1900.

Application filed March 9, 1900, Serial No. 7,953. (No model.)

invented a new and useful Improvement in.

Packing Barrels, Kegs, or Tierces; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to a combined head, groove, and hoop for ordinarywooden barrels, kegs, tubs, and similar devices, its object being toprovide a device of this character which is easy and cheaptomanufacture, which may be readily applied to the barrel and form astrong closure therefor, and which may be used in assembling the staves.The ordinary wooden barrel as now constructed is made up of a series ofstaves having grooves on their inner surfaces near the ends for receiving the heads and provided with external hoops to bind the whole together,two hoops being usually applied to each end. The staves as they comefrom the mill must first be provided with the groove on the inner endsurfaces thereof and the head must be carefully turned in circular formto fit the exact size of barrel desired. The groove if out to aconsiderable depth materially weakens the staves at the ends thereof, orif cutshallow the head is insecurely held in place. The staves andbottom head are assembled in a suitable frame and the upper headthereafter applied thereto. This operation requiresa considerable amountof skill and materially adds to the cost of the barrel.

The object of my invention is to do away with the necessity of groovingthe ends of the staves and provide a head which can be readily appliedto the barrel by unskilled labor and which will also serve as an endhoop, thereby dispensing with those ordinarily used.

It consists, generally stated, in a metallic barrel-head provided withanannular groove on the circumference thereof, which groove is adaptedto fit over the end of the staves and provide an inner and outerbearing-surface therefor, and so formed that the head can be easily andsecurely fastened to the ends of the staves.

To enable others skilled in the art to make single operation of astamping-machine.

sheet metal, having on its circumference an upwardly-projecting wall 4and adownwardly-projecting wall 5, substantially parallel to the wall 4,and an annular ring 6, connecting the two walls at the top, therebyproviding a groove 7 having substantially-parallel annular walls andopening downward. The walls of the groove are shown slightly inclinedfrom a line perpendicular to the plane of the head in order to conformto the slightinward incline of the ends of the staves but in heads foruse on barrels having substantially straight staves the walls of thegroove will be substantially at right angles to the plane of the head.In some cases it is desirable to strengthen the head, and this may bedone by striking up the metal, as shown at 8 9, to form ribs thereon.These ribs are shown at right angles to each other but it is obviousthat they may be placed in any other relation and be of any desirednumber, and instead of being formed by strikingup the metal they may beseparate from the head and secured thereto in a variety of ways. Thehead is preferably made of a single integral piece of sheet metal and isof such form that it can be readily shaped bya It is obvious, however,that it might be made of separate pieces united by soldering or brazing;but the integral form is preferred it being both stronger and cheaper tomanufacture than the built-up form. i

In assembling the barrel the lower ends of the staves are inserted inthe groove of the lower head, thus dispensing witha portion of theassembling-frame usually employed. The

walls of the groove are substantially'paralleli the entire depth of thegrooveand are spaced such a distance apart that they bear 'fir mly onthe inner and outer sides of the staveheads, whereby the head is heldfirmly on thev ends of the staves, thus making' it possible to movethebarrel during the -process-ofass sembling without danger'offthe headfalling.

ofi. After the hoops 2 2 have been applied the upper head-is slippedover the ends of the staves and thewalls of the groove thereof clasp thestaves firmly, thus holding the head in place. For barrels filled withlight material no other fastening means for the heads is necessary; butif the barrels are to be filled with heavy material the headsare furthersecured to the barrel-body by means of nails or rivets, as shown at 11.I have shown a hoop 10 at the upper end of the barrel, its functionbeing merely to keep the upper ends of the staves'from spreading whilethe barrel is being filled. The ordinary wooden barrel has two hoops ateach-end; but these are dispensed with in my improved barrel, the outerwall 5 on the groove of the head serving as the end 25 hoop.

What'l claim as my invention, and desire to secure :by Letters Patent,is'

A barrel comprising a-body composed of ungrooved'wboden staves andhoops, the head 30

